


Fanning the Flames, featuring Valerie Gray

by Guardian_Rex



Series: Featuring Valerie Grey [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Cujo is mentioned, Gen, Valerie actually has a fucking presence and impact on the story, Valerie is badass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2018-12-23 13:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11990886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian_Rex/pseuds/Guardian_Rex
Summary: basically as the title suggests.  Valerie only has presence in the show in like. six episodes.  total.  So, here's what happens when events have actual impact within a story.





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> seriously, she only appears in six episodes, even though she's A: a better love interest than Sam - I don't hate Sam, she and Danny simply lack that chemistry - and is a better antagonist than Vlad - sorry Vlad stans, but he's... he's an asshole of an abusive megalomaniac and I want to use him a bit more sparingly than Butch did, so that the whole... arch enemy thing is a bit more played up.

Surrounded by an ever-shifting void of green, Danny flew alongside the Specter Speeder and took note on the large sheet of paper he had brought along with him how far away from the Fenton Portal they were.  For the fourth time in the half hour that they had been there, Danny let out a sharp whistle that pierced the near silent atmosphere.  "Cujo!  Here boy!  Who wants a treat?"  He waited for a response from the energetic puppy... and waited... and waited.

When it was apparent that Cujo wasn't going to be coming to see them, Danny turned to the Speeder and slumped in defeat.  Tucker and Sam shrugged, unsure of what to do.  "Sorry Danny," the goth said.  "I don't think Cujo is, ya know, around anymore.  I think he might be gone."

"Gone where, though?"  Danny scratched his head in confusion, glancing up at the darkness looming some infinite distance away from them.  "He was a ghost dog, Sam.  And this is the Ghost Zone.  Where does one go, if not the afterlife?"  Before an answer could be offered, something white and red slammed into Danny and wrapped around him like a vice.

"WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?"  A voice whined in his ear at max volume and Danny winced.  Turning to glare at the ghost that was squeezing what was left of his life away, Danny was met with a blue face housing a pair of red eyes.  One eye was larger than the other, and the ghost's teeth were crooked to go with his hunch.  "PLEEASE?"

"What the actual hell is going on here?"  Danny slipped out of the larger ghost's grasp and kicked him away.  "I only accept surprise hugs from my friends and sister, thanks."  The ghost lunged for him, and Danny caught both hands of the pajama clad creep.  "Get off me!"

"BUT I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND!"  The ghost - Danny decided to call him Klemper - managed to grab his middle and Danny growled in irritation.  The two flew down until Danny's back hit a semi solid pan surface and found himself struggling against the other's bruising grip.

"Who remembers why we brought the Fenton Phones with us on this lovely expedition into the Ghost Zone?"  Danny grumbled, kicking Klemper in the stomach and flying circles around the guy.

"To test out whether they work or not.  Which they obviously do, since I can actually hear you through this, and my PDA refuses to offer any quality audio right now."  Tucker remarked, tapping furiously away at his PDA screen to try and access some of his internet files.  He gave up after a moment and sighed.  "I can't access the internet or even a radio signal.  Though, I can access these Fenton Phones as wireless earbuds."  A few strokes of his stylus and Tucker's recently downloaded song from the latest pop hit played across their communications frequency.

Sam winced and turned the volume down on hers, glaring at Tucker.  "These are communication devices meant to block out spectral noise, Tucker, not your latest MP3 accessory.  Although, they're great for a techno goth look."  Sam grinned, glancing at the rearview mirror that she saw little point in.

"Yeah, that way you can hear me when I say things like 'get this thing off of me!'"  Danny slammed a roundhouse kick into Klemper's kidney - or where that was meant to be - and knocked him several feet away.  Klemper, in return, blew a stream of frosty breath at the ghost teen and Danny was frozen in a block of ice.  Danny, furious and cold, lit his palms with blazing ectoplasma and blasted his way out.  The ice shattered and he spotted what looked like a refrigerator.  Dashing to it, Danny grabbed the handle and counted.  '1...2...3...4!'  He pulled the door open, revealing a frozen tundra, and Klemper flew right in.  He slammed the door shut and used a continuous ray of ectoplasma to weld the seams together before blasting off the handle.  "There.  Now, where were we?"

Sam shifted over to the side while Danny phased into the Speeder next to a poorly singing Tucker.  When Danny transformed, he shivered and rubbed his hands together.  Sam grabbed onto them and hummed.  "Cujo being gone.  You said that he had been searching for his squeaky toy, right?"  A nod from the ghost boy and she grinned.  "What if, since he had fulfilled his obsession, Cujo just... moved on?  I mean, all this," she gestured to the seemingly endless expanse of the Ghost Zone.  "Doesn't prove that reincarnation or something doesn't exist.  Maybe when a ghost fulfills their obsession and purpose, they move on - to their next life or to wherever they were headed after here I dunno.  Makes sense, right?"

"Yeah, it does.  Maybe I can get Mom and Dad to think about that when we get back?"  Danny almost pulled off a smile before Tucker's screeching of 'Ember!  you will remember!' hit him again.  "Yikes, speaking of getting back, can we do that before I go deaf?"

* * *

 

Once dinner rolled around, Danny was glad to note that his Mom hadn't added anything to the dinner that he and Jazz had made together while he was out patrolling the city and avoiding Valerie.  Once his plate had mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and split sausages on it, Danny considered how he'd bring up the subject to his parents.  They were both pretty closed minded about ghosts whenever they talked about them, refusing to acknowledge that ghosts could actually feel things like living beings.   _How to bring it up to them, how to bring it up?  Blunt as Thor's hammer should work._  "Hey Mom, Dad?"

"Yeah, Danno?"  Jack looked up from his plate, curiosity piqued instantly.   _It's been way too long since I've talked to either of them._

"I was wondering something earlier and I thought you guys would be the ones to ask.  What if, after a ghost fulfills its obsession or finished business, it stops existing?  If they're only tethered to existence by one all encompassing thought process like you say, doesn't that mean that reaching that goal would allow them to pass on or something?"  Danny took a bite of his potatoes, catching that twitch in his mom's eye that said he had sparked more interest in her than he had intended.  Jazz groaned where he couldn't.   _Well shit, now they'll be asking about this all night._

"That's a pretty good question, hon," Maddie praised, the theories running around in her head practically lit up in her eyes.  Actually, Danny could make out a few ribbons of light around her head that definitely weren't on the visible spectrum.  "What made you think about that, Danny?"

"I met a cute green puppy in the park the other day, and he was running around everywhere, and through everything.  When I handed him a frisbee that I found with a weird art symbol matching the one on his collar, he caught it and his body looked like it was falling apart at the seams."  Danny shivered, the image of Cujo vanishing still fresh in his mind.  "He just sorta... evaporated.  I even put on my goggles to see if he was still in the area, but there wasn't any more ectoplasm than we've got in the air here at home."

"You played _fetch_ with a **ghost**?!"  Jack looked torn between proud and horrified.  "What if that thing had attacked you, son?"

"I've got my wrist ray on me, Dad," Danny sighed, holding up his arm to show off the hidden weapon.  Tapping the hidden button, it opened up to reveal a charging blaster.  "See?  Totally safe."

"Is that all you're carrying with you at any time?"  Maddie raised a brow at Danny, scrutinizing the lack of weapon bulges on his body.  "I think you should at least carry an ectopistol on you, Danny.  What if you fight a ghost that disables the wrist ray?"

"If they get that close, I'll suck them into the thermos, mom.  I keep it on me whenever I leave the house."  Danny resisted the urge to roll his eyes and shoved some food into his mouth instead.  "Anyway, what do you think happens when a ghost fulfills their obsession?"

"That's a great question, Danno," Jack gave Danny a pat on the back and grinned.  "We'll have to get back to you on that."

 


	2. The Oh Shit Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Danny find Tucker's obsession with Ember annoying, Danny and Val rek Dash for being an idiot, and Ember finds out that The Halfa isn't the only one in town who poses a potential threat to her plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Valerie can be witty in canon, so why not throw that shade toward the assholes that cast her out due to status?

"I don't get how this Ember Mclain can just pop up one night and become a top hit when no one's heard of her before."  Danny glared at Tucker's PDA, contemplating whether he should take it or zap it before they were surrounded by cameras and people.  "It's so..."

"Infuriating how mindless, corporate, pre-packaged bubble gum is preventing true musical artists from being heard?"  Sam glared over at the geek between them herself, before deciding against knocking away the PDA and focusing on Danny.

"I was gonna say weird, but ok," Danny shrugged, raising a brow at Sam.  "Except, Ember's song isn't all that bad when you listen to  _ her  _ sing it.  Have you given it a listen beyond Tuck blurting out lines or..."

"No, because all of this disgustingly mainstream hype he's giving it has turned me  **way** the hell off from it."  Sam crossed her arms and shook her head.  "Besides, I'm hearing only one song here, and a single hit a good musician does not make."

"Ember's not just about music," Tucker argued, head held high.  "She's a unique expression of my individuality."  When they all turned the corner, Danny felt a little spark of horror.  Ember merch was literally everywhere.  People's lockers had posters, there was a banner that was strung up by someone, Dash was wearing a new jacket with Ember's face on it, even Valerie was wearing an Ember shirt.

"Oh yeah, you're one of a kind," Sam drawled, rolling her eyes.  "Every single one of you."

Paulina, rocking her fangirl outfit in style, strut up to the trio and sneered at Sam.  She spotted the Fenton Phones that Sam hadn't felt like taking out and smirked.  "Nice earrings.  Sale at the 89 cent store?"

"Actually, Paulina, they're a gift from Danny."  Sam wrapped an arm around Danny and he sighed internally, feeling somehow wrapped up more so in the pissing contest between the two.  "I'm not so vain as to need to buy a new set of jewelry for each day of the year."  

"Really?  He gave you earrings?"  Paulina let out a huffing laugh, shaking her head and turning away from the trio.  "I always knew you two losers would end up together."  She sauntered away as though she had won for now.

"We're not losers!"

"We're not together."

"EMBER, GO EMBER!  EMBER, REMEMBER! EMBER, GO-"  Tucker flinched back when Danny and Sam leaned close into his face.

"Will you KEEP IT DOWN?"  Danny was ready to actually steal the PDA from Tucker, consequences be damned.

"Whoa, the love birds are ganging up on Foley," Dash pointed out loudly to Kwan, drawing glares from both the goth and the ghost boy.

"We aren't lovebirds, Dash."  Danny pulled on the straps of his backpack and rolled his eyes.  "If you wanna focus on imaginary relationships, turn to your favorite shows and books."

"Careful Fenton, you're suggesting he reads enough to  _ have  _ a favorite book,"  Valerie called out with a wry grin on her face, books being stuffed back into her locker.  "Don't make assumptions you know aren't true."

"How right you are, Valerie, my mistake."  Danny frowned and even pouted in Dash's direction.  "I'm very sorry that I assumed you use your head enough to care about literature."  Danny darted around Dash's lunge and snickered at the jock.  "Wow, that was a delayed reaction if I've ever seen one."

"It takes a little bit of time for the insults to process, I'm sure," Sam grinned down at Dash as he got back up and the trio moved on to class.  Thankfully, they had class away from the jock clique.  “That was weird, having Valerie back us up on something.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t a bad thing, since Dash couldn’t really decide between me and her for a second.”  Danny shrugged and smiled.  “Maybe if Phantom can convince her that he’s not the bad guy, Valerie can be our friend?”

“Hey, if she isn’t trying to kill you, I’m all for that, man,” Tucker broke out of his musical love fit to wrap an arm around Danny’s shoulders.  “You’re my bromigo, Danny, so your safety is priority one.”

* * *

 

Once in Lancer's classroom, everyone was assigned a strange helmet to go with the three screened laptops linked to the large contraption at the front of the room.  Once everyone was seated, Sam muttered under her breath.  "I have a feeling that this is going to be something legally gray..."

"If so, maybe I can make something out of it," Tucker muttered back, fingers already flying across the keyboard of his own console.  "These are pretty lazily linked together, actually.  Whoever made this wasn't counting on anyone with even average hacking skills to encounter it."

"Isn't it blatantly illegal to go rooting around in school property, Tuck?"  Danny couldn't keep the smile off his face at the thought of Tucker turning a profit and getting the class out of whatever torture this was going to be in one move.

The bell rang and interrupted Tuck's response, quieting the class enough for Lancer to speak over them all.  "As you know, the Northeastern standardized testing starts in two days. Because my bonus is proportional to your grades, we've installed the cramtastic Mark V.  The latest in state of the art subliminal study aid technology."  Tucker snorted quietly in his seat, muttering about lawsuits he could build off of this.  Lancer thankfully didn't hear him and pressed the On button.  "Let the learning begin."

Instead of any kind of study material, on the screens appeared a pale teen singing into a microphone while playing guitar.  " _...Oh, Ember, so warm and tender~ you will remember my name~! _ "  Sam and Danny removed their helmets as the class broke out in cheers and Lancer ejected the disc in the machine.   _ Wow, Tucker was right, that's ridiculously easy for someone to mess with. _

The music continued to play, though muffled, and Lancer angrily tossed the disc in Tucker's direction.  "Foley!  Turn off that blasted PDA!"  The disc bounced off of Tucker's screen and a fleeting thought to add that to the lawsuit - which was approaching reality considering the situation of what just happened.

"It's not me!  It's coming from outside!"  Everyone in the room scrambled up and over to the windows, where they saw a truck carrying a pair of huge speakers and poles on top that held the Ember banner pull up in front of the school.  In a flash of smoke and light, Ember and her band appeared where they had clearly not been before.

 

Nearly every student in the school ran out to the front of it to get a glimpse of Ember.  Valerie, however, saw that her watch was beeping and Ember hadn't been anywhere near the stage before her appearance.  "There are no stage lights, and all of them are glowing.  Yeah, I'm not falling for that."  Val ran out of the room like everyone else, but instead to one of the bathrooms to suit up.  Once suited up, she flew out of a back window of the school and around the building in time to see a wave of purple light wash over the student body.  "Shit, is she pulling that cartoon cliche?"  Everyone turned toward Lancer with bright red eyes and Valerie sighed.  "At least try and be original with your powers, ghosts."

Diving into the fray, Valerie aimed her rifle at Ember and fired, taking the popstar by surprise.  One of the band got in the way of the shot and vanished into a puff of smoke, confirming Valerie's suspicions.  "Look at that, a hater.  And here I thought that teens today loved good music."  Ember turned a dial on her guitar and struck a chord.  A purple fist barreled toward Valerie and nearly knocker the hunter off her board.

"I'll admit you've got a nice voice, ghost, but I'd prefer to hear you screaming your way back to the afterlife!"  Valerie charged another shot, but was stopped short when the mass of students reached up to grab her board.  There was a wave of cold that spread over the area and the sky darkened as the board slipped through everyone's fingers rising up.  "What the-"

"Watch where you're throwing those power chords, Ember, you might hit one of your fans."  A blur of black and white charged toward the blue haired popstar and Valerie took her shot, hitting the bandmate nearest Ember while the Ghost Boy tackled the star.  "Wouldn't wanna end up in the news for being the idol who attacks her fans, do you?  Let's take this to the top of the charts!"  Danny ducked under Ember's swing, hissing when she brained him with her guitar.  Falling to the ground, he managed an ectoblast that launched the pop star a few stories into the air and followed after her.

"Sorry, babypop, maybe I'll give you an encore later."  Ember launched a pair of lasers from her eyes, cracking Danny's hastily made shield and pushing him back.  "For now, tell me what you think of my outro?"  She strummed a few notes on her guitar, three waves of ectoplasm ridding the pressure behind them while she vanished in a whirl of flames.

Valerie waited until the Ghost boy was right above the truck bed to fire, and smirked under her mask when the shot propelled him forward and evoked a scream from the stupid specter.  "Unlike her, you're not gonna make a clean get away, Ghost boy!"  Zooming forward, Val caught the truck vanishing from sight and the sky brightening up again.  When she made it to where her target should have been, there was nothing.  Turning back, the student body of Casper was waking up from whatever spell Ember had placed on them.  "Damnit!"  She took off before anyone could spot her and circled around to the window she had exited.

Danny reappeared just inside the school and returned to human form after making sure no one could see him.  Walking out, he heard Tucker complaining about an encore and groaned.  "Tuck, we need to talk later."  Wincing in pain as he stretched, Danny lifted up his shirt and spotted the burn from Valerie's gun hitting him.  "I'm also gonna need some burn cream or something, Val's rifle has a much higher setting than most of the Fenton Tech ones."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts and opinions? I feel like Valerie likely got into target practice after the experience with missing most of her shots in the first run with her weapons. What do you guys think? If you find any issues, tell me and I'll see if I can refine them.


	3. The Ember Conspiracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie does some digging and is then horrified with how clear it is that everyone's brains are being messed with the next day. Also Sam is clever enough to get them out of Lancer's grip with sass alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, hi, Sorry I'm late, got work and friends n stuffs. But I promise, this has my attention, especially thanks to Hulu allowing me to just pull up the episode for reference. Have fun with that extra sceeeene

After school, Valerie set down her equipment and huffed out a sigh.  Before she could go into anything relating to her ghost work, she had to check something.  "Daddy?  Are you home?"  As had become routine as of late, Valerie walked into the kitchen to check for any notes her father may have left.  Sure enough, one was taped to the freezer.  ' _ I made lasagna, heat it up for about twenty minutes in the oven or two in the microwave.  Be back around three.  Love Dad. _ '  Valerie set down the note and sighed.  "Alright, looks like I'll be home alone for the night.  Gotta figure this out soon then."

With her stomach full and her homework done three hours later, Valerie pulled up to the computer that they managed to save up for and searched for any information on an Ember Mcclain.   Everything that came up, however, were recent articles from Amity Park about the randomly successful pop princess.  "No background information, no old school pictures posted on social media, no nothing!  Half an hour of searching should give me something to go off of about her."  Valerie punched the wall behind the computer and huffed out a sigh.  "Ok... Ok, think.  Obviously, this isn't her real name.  Let's see about obituaries for someone similar.  But what would Ember have changed her name from?"  Drumming her fingers on the wood of her desk, Val went through the list of possible names that came to mind and shook her head.  "It can't possibly be that simple.  No one would make a change that stupidly obvious."

Instead of the name that first came to mind, Valerie typed away things like 'Ellenor McClain, Emily, Edith, and Eleanor.'  Unfortunately, none of those came up with any related results, even after she added in music as a part of the search.

Finally, she typed in the name she was sure wouldn't work, and stared at the images that came up in disbelief.  "Seriously?  Amber McClain?  That was her big name change?  And I thought her  _ powers  _ were unoriginal."  Valerie scoffed at the mentality of her foe before clicking on the link and sobering immediately.  " **Dead at 17 years old, Amber McClain experienced a pyrotechnics malfunction on her homemade stage in her parents' garage.  She had been preparing to play some pop music for the more popular friends she had at school in hopes of making it big in the music industry.  As the night grew old, Ember tested out the pyrotechnics that she had prepared for the show and they exploded in her face, lighting the house on fire.  She died of smoke inhalation and several burn wounds across her face.** "  Valerie pushed back from the computer and let out a sigh.  "Damn.  That's... chilling.  Guess she wanted to go big so bad she came back from the dead to do it."  The hunter shook her head and took a breath.  "That doesn't change the fact that she's brain washing people.  If she's going to drain every one of their free wills, I'll have to blow her back to the afterlife."

* * *

 

When Danny and Sam arrived at school, they saw that Tucker was still wearing an Ember Tshirt.  Not only that, but he was wearing a neon blue wig with a purple lowercase e on the center of it.  Danny raised a brow at Tucker's look and noted that he was wearing eye makeup of the same style as Ember.  "Tucker, you're starting to scare me, and I fight ghosts."

"It's an Ember thing," Tucker proudly declared.  "You wouldn't get it, Danny."

"You do realize that she's an evil, mind controlling spirit from another dimension?"  Sam felt the need to act as the voice of reason, as usual, since Tucker's mind appeared to be slipping.

"Yeah," Tucker nodded, then pointed an accusatory finger at Sam.  "But you said the same thing about Paulina."

"Ya know, he has a point," Danny chuckled, shrugging at Sam's glare.

Before Sam could lay into either of them about why she hated Paulina, said queen of freshman popularity ran over to them.  Mortifyingly enough, she was dressed almost exactly like Ember, with a neon blue pony tail attached to her head.  "Hey, everybody!  Ember's giving away free concert tickets at Bucky's Music Mega Store!"  She then looked at Tucker and smiled.  "Nice hair!"

"Thanks, nice hair!"  Tucker shot the finger guns at the popularity princess and she didn't even roll her eyes at him.

"Clearly, Ember is brainwashing you people," Valerie muttered across from them, her attention torn away from Star's own Ember get up to the exchange happening with Paulina.  "You and Paulina are dressed exactly the same, and that Foley geek just hit on Paulina and she didn't even say anything mean to him.  Hell, she complimented him first!"  Val shook her friend's shoulders, trying to get her to snap out of it.  Star and Kwan were the only ones in the clique to still hang out with her anymore, so she wasn't going to let them fall prey to some evil spirit's spell.

Star, for her part, only squealed in excitement and bounced up and down in Valerie's hold.  "Val, Ember is giving away free tickets!   _ Free _ !  Have you ever heard of a musician doing something as awesome as that before?"  Star ripped herself free of Valerie's grip - which frankly impressed Valerie - and ran for the exit.  A crowd soon formed, charging for the door and chanting "EMBER, EMBER, EMBER!"

Lancer tried to stand between the fans and the doors, claiming, "You people aren't going anywhere except detenti-"  But he was trampled over by the crazed students in their mad dash to the store.  

Valerie ran over and helped the man up, checking for any particularly bad bruises.  "Are you ok, Mr. Lancer?  That looked pretty brutal, and I know how bad it can hurt when just Dash manages to run you over."  That had been the day that Dash Baxter learned not to surprise attack a 9th-degree black belt.

"I'll be fine, Ms. Gray," Lancer nodded, leaning on his student for support.  "I just need to make a quick trip to the school nurse."

"Need any help getting there?  You happen to be missing a tooth."  Valerie winced as she said it, not wanting to look at the gap now present in her teacher's mouth when he spoke.  In answer, Lancer simply shook his head and started limping toward the nurse's office and Valerie shrugged.  "If he doesn't want any help, he doesn't get any.  I have bigger flames to douse."

While Valerie found an empty classroom to activate her suit in, Danny and Sam went to his locker to retrieve a Fenton Thermos and the extra wrist ray he kept for Tucker.  "I still don't know why we're not affected by Ember's music."  He phased his hand into the locker, somehow able to see through the door and grabbed the thermos first.  "I mean I can sort of get how it'd work, the right frequency echoing underneath her music to a point where humans can't hear it would have some weird effect on the brain, but that means it should affect us too."

"Maybe because of your ghost powers and my-"

"Individuality, or intelligence?"  Danny clipped the thermos to his belt loop and reached back in to grab the wrist ray, handing it to Sam.

"I was gonna say 'utter disdain for anything popular', but ok."  Sam accepted the wrist ray and slipped it on, brows raising when the large band folded in on itself to wrap snugly around her wrist.  "Wow, that sorta defied the laws of physics."

"No it didn't," Danny rolled his eyes.  "Just the ones that they teach us about in school."  They started walking toward the exit like everyone else had, falling into step with familiar patterns.  "Honestly, I finish all my science homework in class cause it's all so easy.  And Falluca gets mad about my doodles even though I got everything right!"

"Perhaps if you saved that artistic talent for your extra curricular activities instead of class, Mr. Fenton, you'd be passing with the grades that your middle school reported."  Lancer stood in front of them, arms crossed and body battered from being stampeded over.  "Where do you think you're going?"

"To class, obviously," Sam rolled her eyes.  "Our next class is chemistry with Mr. Falluca?  That's why we were talking about him, sir."

"Yeah, his class is in the hallway to our immediate left like five feet behind you."  Danny sighed in exasperation.  "I'd like to not be late to class for once, now that Dash isn't chasing me around to stuff me in a locker."  The two walked around a baffled Lancer and took the hallway they had claimed they would.  As soon as they did, Danny grabbed Sam and turned them both invisible, leading her through a wall and into an empty classroom.  "Nice cover up.  I completely forgot which class we had next."

While Danny transformed, filling the air with the scent of burnt denim and skin for all of a second, Sam rolled her eyes and checked the ray on the wrist ray.  "Of course you had, that's why Tucker and I keep track of this stuff.  You'd lose your head if it wasn't attached to you, Danny."

"Yes, Mom," Danny drawled, sticking his tongue out at Sam as they wrapped an arm around each other.  Danny took off through the wall and into the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just cause you had a crummy life doesn't mean you can steal away people's free will. Also, Valerie is plenty smart, you can't simply buy good grades. Even Dash was failing tests and he's the star quarterback. Plus, the whole 'love birds' thing irked me. Like, people's lives and free wills are at stake here, no time to be thinking about romance n shit kiddos. Marvelling at ridiculously sci-fi tech, sure, but that you can do on the way.
> 
> what did you guys think of this? Your comments fuel me like chanting to Ember.


	4. Ghostly Gray Flames and a Supernatural Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny and Valerie kick equal amounts of ass, up til Danny gegts knocked out of the fight. Sam is creeped out by Danny's lovey dovey attitude and Tucker is waiting to let the salt out about being strapped to a chair for twelve hours after all this is over.

When Valerie got to the music store, she was mildly surprised to see how much of the store was already dedicated to Ember at the moment.  Turns out, she had claimed the entirety of the store, and the minds of everyone in it.  There were fans screaming Ember's name and singing along to her song - which was admittedly pretty good.  A cloud of purple smoke rose up and Ember appeared on a platform above everyone and grabbed a few stacks of tickets.  "Wow, she's really tossing away free tickets."  Valerie shook her head and pulled a grenade out of her pack of weapons.  "I'm no business expert, but that seems like throwing away money to me.  Time to save Ember's stocks from herself."

As the first batch of tickets rained down to the fans, Ember's name was roared even louder, and Val caught Ember's flaming ponytail grow larger and brighter.  "Now that's something original right there.  I'll have to quiet the crowd if I want to take down Ember.  What better way than with some fireworks?"  Valerie tossed a grenade at Ember and backed up her board a tiny bit when the star's hair set off the explosive.  The screams below became ones of fear and Valerie took a few shots at the musical mane while the teens evacuated.  "You really need to get a new song, one hit wanna be!"

Ember's hair shrunk down to a campfire, and she glared at Valerie.  The ghost's body was... glitchy, for lack of a better term.  Pyramids of blue, white and black stuck out along her body and her guitar lay beside her, fuzzy and out of focus.  "A critic, wonderful."  Ember shook off whatever was wrong with her and snapped back into an image that didn't set off twenty alarm bells in Valerie's mind.   She grabbed her guitar and turned a dial on it.  "Well, I've got a new song just for you, Red Witch."  Purple fire came to life around Ember's hand and she struck a power chord, sending out flames that rode the shockwaves her guitar made.  Valerie shot up higher toward the ceiling but was still clipped by the flaming wave.

"Nice guitar, though I always preferred the _beat_ of the drums!"  A glowing green fist slammed into Ember's jaw just as she turned to glare in his direction.  Danny followed up with a roundhouse kick to Ember's shoulder and flipped back when she beat him to the strike with her skull themed heels.  "Dang, I didn't realize how functional those could be in a fight.  Maybe I should replace my boots."

"If you think that's something, why don't you tell me what you think of these power chords, dipstick?"  Ember belted out another few notes wrapped in green fire and slammed Danny back into a wall.  With an echoing laugh, she vanished in a whirl of blue fire, but Danny bounced back and soared up through the roof after her.

"Dipstick, really?  Who writes your songs?  Clearly not the same idiot who writes your insults.."  Danny rushed forward and aimed both fists for Ember's face, only to have them both grabbed by the elder ghost.  The sound of chanting reached his ears at the same time that Ember pushed Danny back and her hair grew larger and hotter.  "Crap... the chanting is your power source."  More light flared up in Danny's hands as he struggled to fight back against Ember's overwhelming force, but to no avail.

"Got that right baby pop, maybe you actually do have a brain in there,"  Ember smirked down at her opponent and tossed him behind her.  Danny smacked against the giant cut out of Ember and nearly knocked it over the edge of the building.  It landed half off and wobbled with the pressure coming off of Ember.  "If you think I'm strong _now_ ," she gloated, appearing inches in front of Danny before he could steady himself, "Just wait till my concert goes global!  Then the whole world will be chanting my name!"  The sheer force of Ember's next attack was enough to slam Danny into the concrete of the rooftop and transform back into his Fenton form, bruised and battered.

Before she could take the final shot, Ember was hit in the back with a beam of energy.  She burst into flames and reappeared higher in the air, glaring down at the goth who now stood protectively in front of her friend.  "Stay away from him!"  A chrome thermos lay at her feet and the wrist ray was glowing menacingly with Sam's aim.  Ember barely held back a snicker when an idea came to mind.

"Aw, young love.  They say it never lasts," she teased, cradling her guitar woefully.  "Nothing distracts teenagers more than hormones though, and I need you two distracted for another 8 hours.  Now that I've got all this power my music _can_ affect you.  How about a love song?"  A few chords on her guitar and giant Valentines hearts flew at the pair of teenagers.  The goth was flung to the edge of Ember's cut out, and the half-ghost was pushed against the edge of the roof.  When he opened his eyes, instead of the burning fury of a territorial ghost, there were pink heart-shaped irises that were immediately turned toward the goth.

Before anyone could make a move, Valerie rose up on her hoverboard and fired at Ember's guitar, cracking it when Ember shifted just an inch out of the way.  Another grenade was thrown, though this one stuck onto the ghost's back as Val zoomed by, standing between the ghost and the humans below.  "Back the hell off you spectral menace!  I don't care why you're still here, attacking innocent civilians gets you a one-way trip back to hell, Amber!"  The grenade exploded on Ember's back before she could strike and Valerie launched bolt after bolt of ectoplasmic rounds at Ember.  Ember growled in frustration and wrapped herself in her fire as a shield, exploding it outward to give herself an escape.  The shockwave flung Sam off the building and Danny with her, catching Val's attention when the goth screamed.  Valerie dove down and caught Danny, since he was closer, before racing toward Sam.  Thankfully, she wasn't needed for Sam since a guy in a helicopter had reached out to stop her fall.  Unfortunately, there were a bunch of police officers surrounding the store and Valerie needed to hide.  So, she tossed Danny into the helicopter on the other side and rocketed off into the trees.

"Activate cloak or something, I need to get away from these guys," she muttered into her wrist and was vaguely surprised to see herself flicker out of visibility.  Her visor alerted her that she was now cloaked, and Valerie flew straight to her home to prepare for her next confrontation with Ember.

* * *

 

All of the parents in Amity Park gathered at the music store and dragged their children away, grounding them all.  All of them, of course, except for Damon Gray, who stared at his TV in beffudlement as the potbellied vice principal ranted on top of a school bus.  "The Mansons really know how to go overboard with their punishments, huh?"  He turned to Valerie as she walked into the apartment, a book in hand.  "I can't think of anyone else who'd have called up a SWAT team just to reign in a rebellious kid.  Also, thank you for not going crazy over some one-hit-wonder sweetie."

"Of course, Daddy!  Ember's music is good, but not _that_ good.  Besides, I have a test I need to study for."  Val set down her backpack and ran over to the couch to give her dad a hug.  "Glad to see you're adjusting to a new sleep schedule so fast."  She grinned and poked his side, earning a couple of laughs.  "I thought change was a thing of youth?"

"Ha ha, Valerie.  I'll have you know I'm plenty adaptable to new environments, just like you."  Damon pulled Valerie into a headlock and noogied her.  When she got free, he slumped back against the couch with a sigh and stretched his arms out.  "I'm really glad that you're not letting any of this affect your studies.  Maybe when I get a day off we can go out to an amusement park?  We haven't gone in ages."

"Sure, Dad, I'd love that." Valerie kissed her father's cheek before glaring at the TV.  "Guess I can't ask Star for help studying if everyone's grounded at once."  Valerie rolled her eyes and got up, heading to her room.  "I'll be boring myself to death in my room, call me before you go to work so I can hug you before I melt my brain with algorithms."  He gave her a thumbs up and Valerie snickered as she walked into her room.

 

With an hour of actual studying behind her, since Valerie couldn't afford to fail the test tomorrow, Val switched over to her computer and was about to start searching when music filled the room.  Outside, a purple and blue truck was driving by with a crowd of escaped teens following it, drawn in by the song.  Valerie rolled her eyes and activated her suit, summoning the jet sled to follow after the truck from the clouds.

* * *

 

“12 hours of… intensive standardized test prep,” Tucker muttered, noting that finally, a human being had entered the room.  He glared when he saw that it was Sam and Danny, even as the goth removed the helmet from his head.

“Tucker I’m so sorry,” Sam switched off the computer and got to work on the ropes she had tied around Tucker.

“You’re beautiful when you’re racked with guilt,” Danny declared with his loving puppy dog look, pupils still dilated when he looked at Sam.  Tucker arched a brow and pushed aside his anger for the moment, stretching himself out.

“Not now, Danny,” Sam muttered, tossing the ropes back into her backpack.

“Man, it’s about time.  Always knew you two would end up together.”  Tucker pulled his friends into a tight hug, trying for a double headlock and failing when Sam effortlessly pushed out of it.

“We’re not together!  Ember put him under some kind of spell and I wasn’t affected because I still have my Fenton Phones on, filtering out the spectral noise.”  Sam checked her wrist ray and set it a level higher than usual.  Ember was gonna have a nasty burn when Sam got to her.

“So,” Tucker pulled off his ember wig and flicked the sweat from his brow Danny’s way, disturbed by the lack of response.  “You don’t want to end up together?”

“No, especially not like _this_.”  Narrowing her eyes, Sam could see green sparkles around Danny’s body and shook her head.  “Tucker, please, we have to break the spell.”

“Then let’s crank out the word problems and we’ll see him in five hours,” Tucker plopped the study helmet that Sam had given him onto Danny’s head and directed him into the chair.  “Rope please?”

“We’ve only got 15 minutes before Ember’s concert.  She gets her power boosted when people chant her name, and we already know it works without her being physically there.  If the whole world is watching then Ember will be unstoppable!”  Sam tossed the helmet off of Danny’s head, ignoring the longing gaze that refused to leave her, and grabbed him by his wrist to drag him away.

“Then let’s grab some weapons, head to that concert and turn down the volume,” Tucker ran ahead of the other two and more heard himself say “The volume of a sphere is equal to the square of the raise of the base times pi times the height” than he did say it himself.  Snapping out of the daze he turned the dials on his locker so fast he nearly missed the numbers.  “Wow, that thing really works!  And I spent the first 9 years of my school life actually reading?”  He grabbed his wrist ray and lipstick laser, before grabbing onto Danny’s hand.

“Danny, I need you to go ghost so that we can… go to Ember’s concert together.”  Sam really hated tricking Danny while he was like this, but she had a feeling that he wasn’t going to want to do anything unless she made it about them.  In a flash of light, they were flying high in the sky.  “Make sure to get us backstage right behind the security doors.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously though, Tuck is pissed about being forgotten. both by Sam, and by the writers. and the fandom, fuck.


	5. FIGHT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny and Valerie once again kick ass, only this time they manage to take Ember d o w n.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epic fight scene? Epic fight scene.

When they surfaced at the concert hall, they were directly behind a security door, Sam pointed toward the control console.  “Tucker, you take this place down and we’ll keep watch.”  Tucker nodded and jogged ahead while Danny transformed back into his human self and stared at her.  “Can you watch something else?”  For a moment, he looked crestfallen, before he pulled a picture of her out of his pocket and stared at it instead.

Tucker, meanwhile, looked the console over quickly.  “Ok, cutting off the power…”  His thumb flicked a switch and the light on it turned green.  “Electrical power equals electrical current times electrical potential.”  He shook off the words and glared down at the console, flicking the switch back off.  “Man, I gotta stop doin that.”  As he turned all of the dials and switches down to zero, the doors to the left of the console burst open with a cry of ‘WE LOVE YOU EMBER’ and Tucker internally swore.

“I heard you the 12th time.  Now bag em and gag em!”  Ember pointed at the trio of nerds, and Sam turned around to see Dash barreling towards her.  Sam grinned and stomped Dash’s foot when he got close enough, swinging her thermos hard at his head when he backed up in pain.  Unfortunately, the quarterback had fast reflexes and caught the thermos, pinning the goth’s arms behind her while Kwan showed no difficulty in restraining Danny.  And of course, Tucker was held up by his random spouting of facts.

Once the stage was set and all the equipment back up and running, Ember sneered at the heroes.  “Later dipsticks, I gotta go rock my world.  And when I say my world, I mean  _ my _ world!”  Ember walked away laughing and the grips around the trio’s wrists tightened.

“Danny, Stop her, now!”  Sam shouted at her friend, wishing that he’d snap out of this spell.

“I won’t leave you, Sam,” he said defiantly, totally relaxed in Kwan’s grip.

“Forget about me, the world is in danger!”

“I can’t!”  He shouted back, the tiniest bits of green appearing in his eyes.  “I won’t!”

“Tucker,” Sam turned to her other best friend in frustration.  “When a ghost is sucked into the thermos, their power is negated right?”

“That’s the theory that the Fentons have, anyway,” Tucker shrugged.  “Once their energy is contained, all the effects that they had on the real world beyond direct physical damage will be undone because they aren’t able to directly feed energy into the power.”

Sam sighed and turned to Danny, ignoring the sound of ectoblasts coming from beyond the stage.  The jocks let go of them and started running since their lives were still more important to them than Ember’s music.  “Valerie must be out there… Danny, if you take down Ember and suck her into a Fenton Thermos, I will go on a date with you and give you a kiss.”   _ I hate to sink to Paulina’s level but there’s no other way of getting him out there. _

“Really?”  Danny perked up and transformed as a power chord rocked the stage alongside an explosion.  “I’ll be right back!”  He grabbed a thermos, turned intangible, and flew out onto the stage.

 

On said stage, Valerie was firing at Ember while also dodging around the attacks of the ghost and her fanbase in the crowd.  The equipment was all ruined and the cameras were destroyed, so now all that was left was to take down Ember herself.  Missiles flew from Valerie’s jet sled whenever Ember went above the stadium, followed up by a hail of ectobolts.  Valerie dodged around fists of fire and narrower waves of force.  Thankfully, her visor picked up on even minor ectoplasmic movements otherwise that last one would’ve hit since it was more or less just the sound itself.

One of the giant green fists of sound slammed right into Valerie and the hunter was sent barrelling backward.  Before Ember could follow up, a black white and green blur drove into her and smashed the pop star into one of the jumbo screens.  “Sorry Ember, I’ve got a date riding on this, so let’s wrap this up quick, yeah?”  Green light covered Danny’s body like veins and when he missed his next punch, the jumbotron fell.

While the ghost boy caught the screen, Valerie tossed a few flashbangs into the chaos to blind Ember.  A plasma bolt hit her in the back and the popstar started playing a song that carried flame and force with it.  Valerie weaved around the fire and fought against the pressure waves but found that all of her shots were getting thrown back at her.  “This is my battle song, Red Witch.  Whaddya think?”

“Catchy!”  Danny answered, cracking the mic stand on Ember’s head.  “Though, I think it could use some lyrics.  Not enough goth in there.”  Danny ducked a swing of Ember’s guitar and punched her in the gut when Valerie shot her in the back.  He sprung back and caught a grenade, rushing around Ember and next to the hunter.

“You make great delivery service at least, Ghost Boy,”  Valerie fired at her grenade when Ember pulled it off of herself, blowing it up in her face and distracting her long enough for a blast the size of Valerie’s head to hit the glitched out Ember.  “Someone’s riled up.”

“After I capture Ember, I get to go on a date with Sam,” Danny explained, as though that were the most obvious thing in the world.  The veins of energy reappeared, spreading out from the center of his chest, and Danny sailed toward Ember, swinging his foot at her head.  Since the popstar’s head was still regenerating, this kick gave off a very loud crack as Ember’s entire head splintered into a bunch of spinning pyramids.  Danny’s punches were failing to touch Ember now, so he backed up and charged up a blast since she was  _ still moving. _

Thankfully for Ember, Danny’s conscious, and Valerie’s stomach, Tucker appeared on stage and grabbed the microphone, singing Ember’s song as off-key as humanly possible while Sam sucked the star into her Fenton Thermos.  Valerie turned her sights onto the ghost boy but he was already off of her radar.  Letting out a growl of indignation, Valerie cloaked herself and shot off toward her apartment.

Once Sam capped the thermos, Ember’s bandmates vanished in clouds of smoke, and the crowd of teens that had stayed behind to watch the concert - even though Valerie had set in enough fear to get rid of most of them - began to wake up.  Turning to her left, Sam saw that Danny was also waking up from his Ember induced spell.  “Are you ok, Danny?  No lingering crush on me that needs to be dealt with?”  She waved a hand in front of his face and the teen shook his head and stared at her in confusion.

“What in the name of Samhain are you talking about?”  There were few things Danny would swear upon with such conviction.  Halloween was one of those things.  “I don’t have a crush on you, Sam.  And what happened to Ember?  Are we at the concert?”  Before either friend could tell him anything, Danny’s eyes surged with a green light and he held his head with a wince of pain.  “Ow, ok, wow.  I really need to find an instruction manual for this whole ‘ghost psyche’ thing.”

“Can we discuss this elsewhere?”  Tucker grabbed onto Sam and Danny’s arms, pulling them toward the open security door.  “Perhaps at one of our houses?  V broke up most of the equipment before you got out there, and the police are probably on their way.”  If he strained his hearing, Tucker could even hear the sirens in the distance.

Danny nodded and went ghost, grabbing his friends around their waists and flying off through the air invisibly.

* * *

 

Once Danny had stopped by at Sam’s house, Danny kept himself and Tuck invisible while Jeremy and Pamela checked in on Sam.  Danny watched their retreating forms through the door, still pondering how  _ that _ worked and only turned visible when they were out of earshot.  “Ok, now that we’re alone, I think I processed what all happened through my ghost form.  Ember cast like, a love spell on me or something, and I was acting obsessive toward Sam before she came to get me and then we went to get Tucker and holy crap dude how long were you in that chair?”

“Twelve hours,” Tucker said through grit teeth.  “Twelve of them!  How could you forget that you had tied me up?”  The geek pointed at Danny and sighed.  “I understand that Danny was under a love spell  _ and _ grounded, but you Sam?  You could have come and gotten me before you went and pulled love-struck puppy along.”  He crossed his arms and plopped down on Sam’s bed, glaring at the goth.  “Dick move.”

“Yeah,” she admitted, looking down at her friend with a cringe.  “I was so focused on figuring out what Ember had done to Danny that I forgot you weren’t swept up in the crowd with the other Ember fans.”  She sat down next to him and patted Tucker on the shoulder, just like Danny did.  “I’m sorry Tucker.  Won’t happen again, promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.  And  _ you _ ,” he pointed at Danny again, causing the half ghost to nearly go cross-eyed.  “Remind me to never be an obstacle between you and a date.  The way you took down Ember was brutal man.”  Danny scooted back a tad, not sure how to take that info.

“Yeah Danny,” Sam nodded and smiled.  “If you acted like that in all your fights I’m pretty sure the ghosts would get scared and stop coming here to terrorize everyone.”  They all laughed and shook their heads.  “But seriously, those were some epic moves there.  I didn’t know you could move that fast, or hit that hard.”

“You kicked Ember so hard her head split into embers, dude, it was epic.”  Tucker slapped Danny on the back and grinned, feelings of injustice fading as he thought about how awesome it was to have a superhero best friend.  “How’d you do that?”

“I’m… not sure.”  Danny shrugged.  He stared down at his hand and clenched it into a fist, seeing through it and staring at a layer of black spandex instead.  “I think I just… focused.  I wanted that date with Sam so bad that I was able to focus all my energy into my muscles and then into that blast.  Like all my energy went into fighting at once, and it was like I was invisible.  I’ve used my power to up my strength before but never to that extent.”

Tucker pulled out his PDA and tapped away notes for later.  “We’ll cover that in your training when we get the chance.  But for now, there’s a pretty big elephant in the room.”  He glanced at the silver thermos in Sam’s hand and the others did too.

“We can focus on Ember  _ after _ we study for that test tomorrow,” Sam declared, standing up and handing the thermos off to Danny.  “You two get out of here so I can actually do that?  I need to get at least another hour in of studying.”

“ _ Shit _ the test!”  Danny transformed and grabbed Tucker by his waist.  “I forgot to-”

“I put notes on your desk before we left for Tucker.  Study for an hour then go to sleep wonderboy.”  The trio said their goodnights and Danny zoomed off toward Tucker’s house as fast as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you ask, Yes I have been watching My Hero Academia - and reading the manga UNITED STATES OF S M A S H- and yes that does have some influence on how I have Danny fighting but it's still entirely within the realm of DP so yeah. Also, Tucker has some tea to spill on his friends about leaving him tied up. for twelve hours. this is understandable since it was basically a torture method used for studying purposes.
> 
> what did you think of all this? Please tell me in the comment section, I might actually continue doing this if I get enough requests for this.


	6. Epilouge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What to do with Ember, now that they've got her locked up? Can Danny fly into space unaided? How does Valerie deal with the Ghost Boy's decision?

When the test came, with Danny and Sam, as well as much of the class, looking as though they had died from exhaustion and then risen from their graves, it wasn’t fun.  According to Lancer, only four students made above a C, and only two of them made an A.  That was all expected, and Danny was just happy to have  _ gotten  _ a C- on the test.  When school was done and over with, he Sam and Tucker all met in his room to talk about Ember, and what to do with her.  “I mean, we could just chuck her into the Zone and be done with her, right?  None of them have come back afterward anyway.”  Tucker was ready to be done with the popstar and her hypnosis.

“Well yeah, but… would that be right of us to do?”  Danny combed his hands through his hair, staring at the thermos in his hand.  “I looked up Amber Mclain during lunch in the library, and she looks basically exactly like Ember.  I think that  _ was _ Ember, and I think she just wanted to become famous for her music.  And hey, if Cujo can pass on from finding his squeaky toy then why shouldn’t Ember get a chance to realize her dream and pass on too?”

“How exactly would we keep her in check if she goes on some countrywide tour, Danny?  It’s not like we have a personal jet to fly out after her with at a moment’s notice if she decides to try this all again in another town without ghost hunters.”  Sam crossed her arms, glaring at the container.  “She could go rogue as soon as we uncap that thing.”

“Plus there’s Valerie to look out for too since we don’t know if she’ll go after Ember  _ before _ she does something shady.  I don’t know if ghosts can be, ya know, erased from existence or whatever but what you did to her looked pretty damn close and I’m not sure if Valerie would stop there.”  Tucker shivered at the thought of ectoplasm staining Valerie’s suit, the last desperate cries for mercy dying at Ember’s lips with an ectoblast.  “How would that work out man?”

Danny was quiet for a long time, turning the Thermos over in his hands before turning o Tucker.  “How fast can you make a long range communication device Tucker?  I can get you the materials as needed and even help make it but how fast?”

“Using the satellites your parents launched as well as a few dead ones in space if you can reach that high to relay a message back to earth, I’d say… a week maybe?”  Tucker typed out a quick list of the satellites that were no longer in service that he’d be able to use off the top of his head and handed the PDA to Danny.  “Is there a limit to how high you can go?  Also why?”

“Not that I know of, and because I think that having a readily available communicator for Ember would be a great way of like, I dunno, being able to help her if Valerie or any other ghost hunters get on her case while she’s off on her tour.”  Danny transformed and turned to Sam.  “And also because I wanted to know how long Sam and I have to think of a good way to convince Ember to just do her songs and become a star without hypnotism.”

“Sure, I guess,” Sam shrugged.  “But if she fucks up her second chance, she’s getting crammed back into the Zone.”

“I can handle that compromise.”  Danny handed Sam his thermos, and then grabbed one of the Fenton Phones.  “Tuck put yours in and be ready to relay instructions.”  Danny phased through his ceiling and Tucker slid over to the ghost boy’s computer, ready to reprogram as many coding scripts as he could in a week.  “ _ I’ll be starting with just the ones that are orbiting over America since that’s where Ember will be touring first if she can get herself off the ground. _ ”

“All she needs is about half an hour’s worth of songs to make her first album, and be a hit with that.”  Sam pulled out her notes in her backpack and hummed.  “That and a contract with a studio.  Etcetera.  I’m sure we could help her with all that if we can convince someone to let ghosts work for them.”

‘“ _ I know one guy with the money to manage all of that who has nothing against ghosts, but I  _ **_really_ ** _ don’t wanna go to him for anything. _ ”  Danny sighed into the Fenton Phones.  “ _ Vlad Masters is, technically, the best option for Ember as far as becoming a star goes.  How’d that conversation even go? _ ”

“Hi there Vlad, even though I rejected your offer to teach me stuff because you want to kill my father and marry my mother, I wanted to ask you if you could sponsor this ghost of a teen with a big dream who’s got talent and just needs someone to keep her from hypnotizing people out of reflex.  Think you might want to help with that?  I might even start forgiving your sociopathic delusion that my dad is to blame for everything bad in your life.”  Tucker held a serious expression throughout the whole statement and Sam had to admit that she was impressed by that.  “Honestly Danny, that’s not gonna go well for you.”

“Well,” Sam said, “I could just go through my contacts and see who I know that’d be good for kicking off Ember’s career  _ right _ but I still need a guarantee that we’re actually gonna do this before I go calling in favors like that.”  Sam pulled out her latest Skulk and Lurk purchase and opened it up.  “I personally think we should let ourselves relax and think about this before we rush into it.”

“ _ You’re just tired from the test and don’t want to put all that energy you do into rallies into Ember, _ ” Danny said over the Fenton Phones, chuckling in both of the human teens’ ears.  “ _ I’ll admit, I’m right there with you on that.  Plus, after what she did to us all Ember can wait in there a few days. _ ”

“Danny, I know you’re tired and all, but you’re still flying up toward the exosphere to see if you can handle space travel so you might as well help me do some coding while you’re up there.”  Tucker’s fingers flew over Danny’s keyboard so fast that the room was filled with a continuous click.  “I know you remember how to at least reconfigure the hardware, we built that rocket last Saturday and made it pretty dang high.”

Danny sighed in their ears, purposely making the line crackle with his breath on the mic.  “ _ Yeah yeah, but after ten of em I’m heading back down for some sleep. _ ”  Danny paused and muttered more to himself than the others, “ _ I wonder if I can sleep in ghost form up in the exosphere?  Will my reduced obedience to gravity have me floating off into space if I don’t consciously tether myself to the earth? _ ”

“If you go to sleep up there I will personally summon you back and make as much of a mess on your bedroom floor doing it as possible,” Sam said.  Danny grumbled and the goth grinned.  “You know I’ll do it, ghost boy.”

“ _ Yeah yeah…” _

* * *

 

It’s been a few weeks since the Ember incident and Valerie is proud to say that she had passed the big test, being one of the few who actually studied for it.  That was why one Saturday night was full of surprise for the hunter when she saw on a billboard an advertisement for Ember Mclain’s big come back.  “Crap, that’s not good.  What does that stupid ghost kid even do to the ghosts he’s captured if they just pop right back up again?”  She zoomed around town, cloaked and searching for any other Ember merchandise.  There were posters all over town and when she returned to the mega music store where she had encountered the ghost last time, Ember was there signing CDs with a big grin on her face.

Valerie took aim with her ectorifle and got ready for a clear shot to take, but a shape flickered into sight several feet away.  “Did you think to check and see if she was doing something wrong this time, or are you ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ for  _ all _ ghosts?”  He put a hand on his chest, looking mildly offended.  “And here I thought we had something  _ special _ ,”  Valerie growled and took her shot on the Ghost Boy, moving out of the way when his shield reflected the bolt right back at her.  “Ey, that’s what I’m talking about!  See, it’s a you-and-me thing, not a you-and-all-ghosts thing.”

“What questions should I be asking a ghost who wants to take over the world with hypnotizing music, spook?”  Two more ectobolts before Val zoomed around the Ghost Boy and took aim at her target of the night.  “She’s probably got you under her spell anyway.”  A wall of green formed in front of Valerie and the hunter swerved upward to avoid ramming into it full speed.

“You called her Amber.”  The ghost kid said, drawing Val’s full attention back to him.  “That means you looked her up like I did, but before the fact.  You know what she really wants is to just… just follow her dream and become a rockstar.”  He slumped his shoulders, pointing past Val at the ghost on the ground.  “I made her swear a supernaturally binding oath not to use her ghostly powers on people unless lives were in danger.  In return, when she needs me I’ll go and help as soon as I can.  She wants to make it big and now she’s doing it the legit way, V.”

Valerie turned to look at Ember again, her visor helpfully zooming in on the ghost’s face.  Her smile was different from before, still put on for the fans but more genuine than at her concert.  The kids in line didn’t seem zombified, though she wasn’t sure how reliable a simple glance could be on that front.  “... It gave me one new feature at a moment’s notice… scan for ectoplasmic affects.”  Her blaster was trained on the Ghost Boy while her vision switched up to something akin to night vision.  Everything exploded into technicolor and all positive ectosignatures came back to the lenses as green.  Ember was surrounded by the stuff, and there were little patches of green all over the storefront and in the air, but none of the people getting autographs looked to be changed.

“Huh… magick ghost goggles just like Mom and Dad’s,” the Ghost Boy said.  Valerie raised a brow under her hood but chose not to comment since he probably hadn’t said it out loud on purpose.  “So, are you convinced that Ember’s gonna at least try not to be evil while she goes global?  Cause if not I’ll arm wrestle you over it.”  He flexed his arms and grinned, unflinching when Val shoved the barrel of her blaster in his face.  “You know, that thing could hurt somebody.  Probably me, the pure and smol superhero trying to deal with crazy people.”

“What kind of _hero_ goes around destroying people’s lives?!”  She pulled the trigger and growled when the Ghost Boy ducked out of the way the second she did.  He became transparent and held up his hands in defense.

“To be fair, I didn’t get you killed, and I was trying to stop the dog from breaking stuff.  How Cujo managed to get out of the Ghost Zone so much, I’ll never know since he passed on.”  He shrugged and his body began evaporating into green mist.  “Anyway, it's been fun but you should probably head to bed cause trust me, staying up too long can kill ya.”  He winked.  “I should know.  Bye!”  The cloud of smoke dissipated and his farewell echoed in the sky.  Valerie turned her sights on Ember for a moment before shaking her head.

“If he’s wrong, then Ember goes down with him.  For now, I need to check on the rest of the city.”  She turned and flew off to continue her patrol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danny is a kind boy at heart and if there's an alternative to both ease his life AND reduce the amount of enemies he has, then why the hell shouldn't he take that opportunity? Also, Danny loved being in the exosphere. Oh and Danny did the cloud trick back in episode 2

**Author's Note:**

> I promise, Valerie will appear in the next chapter, but this one shows off a fun little theory I remember seeing https://monotype-on-phantom.tumblr.com/ present on their blog. speaking of which, go look at their blog it's amazing.  
> also reviews fuel me, especailly through work days.


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